Steve (Works at public land grant university UC Berkeley) Katz
Twenty five years or so raising money for indy and nonprofit journalism and now at UC Berkeley doing the same for the Journalism School. Picked up a PhD in sociology along the way. Pals with a fish named Bob.
- No we are not surprised. It was a terrible deal to start with. Now it's a waste of time. web.archive.org/web/20250515...
- Definitely feeling this and wishing @jennpozner.bsky.social only the best and a warm welcome back.
- "precisely the outcome the National Trust for Local News was founded to prevent"
- so in sum, today: $400 million bribe White supremacist wet dream smiley Afrikaners China wins, again. Medicaid cuts 8 million people Hunger and workhouse for poor folks What'd I miss.
- Gavin Newsom's call today to clear out homeless encampments hits up against reality time and again. That's the subtext to @annabauman.bsky.social's piece this morning about Berkeley's Ohlone Park encampment. Great reporting: the story gets all the voices. www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/arti...
- Welcome to #Marin.
- US embassy, Stockholm, Sweden to City of Stockholm: End all your DEI stuff in 10 days or else. Stockholm: "That's their headache, not ours." Insane. Again.
- Not really enjoying the announcers on this Warriors - Wolves game. Meh.
- You can find more of the interview with @juliannemcshane.bsky.social here:
- Gavin, jeez man, it's time to head back to the Balboa Cafe and forget about all this other stuff. Just sling the beers. Time's up.
- 15 minutes of evening news catch up, and they're all liars. They just lie and lie and lie.
- William K. Marshall III, director of the Bureau of Prisons, ordered an immediate assessment of Alcatraz. “We look forward to restoring this powerful symbol of law, order, and justice." A bunch of fecking eejits from top to bottom. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/05/u...
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- Well, I had an interesting Sunday night, how 'bout you?
- Amazing and so deep reading, listening, watching. Thank you.
- Happy #WorldPressDay to all who celebrate
- Back in Feb, @ryancordell.org shared this incredible woodcut from @skeuomorphpress.org collection. He shared the original illustrator file for all! I was so inspired by this woodcut, I wanted to clean it up and redistribute it to the public 🧵 1/2 #printsky #academicsky #typophile
- This is terrible news. The PD continued to be a great news outlet. Damn. Pass the damned bill!
- Sonoma Media Investments, parent company of The Press Democrat, sold to MediaNews Group www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news...
- We did it. AMazing. Onwards!
- Can somebody (or somebodies) help a fella out here: we are $57 short of hitting the $5,000 fundraising goal for @berkeleyjournalism.bsky.social's Investigative Reporting Program. That will release an amazing $25,000 matching gift. 57 dollars. Who’s in? crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/4617...
- Happy May Day, don’t be a scab.
- Skip this afternoon’s latte and throw down for @berkeleyjournalism.bsky.social's Investigative Reporting Program. If we raise $5,000, a donor says they'll give $25,000. Amazing. This is what journalism in service to democracy and accountability looks like. crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/46173
- Ookow.
- It's really hard to overstate how hugely favored conservatives were up until two months ago. Here's the graph of Canadian polling between March 2023 and March 2025. (Reminder: blue is conservative.) Those are months and months of 20+ point leads for Tories.
- And now, a note on Bill Owens who, until this past week, was the executive producer of 60 Minutes. We’ll be back next week with another edition of 60 Minutes.
- Tfw you're here wondering "is this a totally reasonable response or completely batshit crazy" and maybe it's time to join Costco?
- Jeffries and Booker organize sit in on Capitol steps to protest Republican healthcare cuts. Tune in, join in. youtu.be/5ceR90lihX8
- Using "recently deputized" ICE agents who don't follow procedure and perform arrests in plainclothes wearing masks and refuse to show badges is a great way to generate a violent situation. It's only a matter of time before these cowboys encounter "stand your ground" and it'll be 100% their fault.
- ICE says they will bring charges against the two Immigration Rapid Response Hotline volunteers who demanded that agents show their badges before seizing two men from the Charlottesville courthouse. dailyprogress.com/news/local/c...
- not the guy in the hat - he's a-ok. it's the other guy in the tight pants and pink tie.
- One of the happiest updates I’ve written since I started following this story. 12 students back in status and maybe more to come. Across the country, students are saying their SEVIS is back. www.dailycal.org/news/campus/...
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- Decent opening. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/u...
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- Adding on to the @ddayen.bsky.social American Prospect piece:
- Empty shipping containers, in the thousands. Good read
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- University of Michigan Regents come out squarely and publicly in defense of academic freedom against political coercion and the role of higher education and research in making America prosperous, secure ... and well ... maybe even Great? www.michigandaily.com/opinion/op-e...
- So good to see Rich Lyons, UC Berkeley Chancellor, has signed onto this letter. Thank you Rich!
- Now it's nearly 270 university presidents who have signed onto this "unprecedented government overreach" public letter. It was less than 180 this morning. www.aacu.org/newsroom/a-c... Universities, and judges, taking the lead in standing up.
- Now it's nearly 270 university presidents who have signed onto this "unprecedented government overreach" public letter. It was less than 180 this morning. www.aacu.org/newsroom/a-c... Universities, and judges, taking the lead in standing up.
- Number is up just today, from 180 to around 240. University leaders, time to join in. www.aacu.org/newsroom/a-c...
- Check out how the anchors of CBS Evening News ended their broadcast tonight:
- Hey all you #California #local #news folks - @senatorglazer.bsky.social is holding a news conference in Sacto on 4/22 to call for hearings to get the California Local News Fellowship baked into the state budget. Info on the what who why down below! Tell your electeds this matters! #journalism
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- I love, love, love pretty much anything that Vivian Gornick writes - and this about being a first generation college student at *tuition free* City College back in the 50’s is so relevant to this moment. www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
- For as long as I've been paying attention to American politics - and I am old, lord am I old - the survey data has ID'd this one-quarter to one-third of Americans (at least those who answer the surveys) as the shriekers. Unchanged since Goldwater times.
- I would say that's quite the kicker at the end of the story except it is anything but "a surprising or poignant revelation at the end of an article" although yes it does leave "a lasting impression on the reader." (Merrian Webster)
- Don't get excited. But maybe you can get a little excited about the possibility of getting excited. (Also, this is exactly the sort of stuff the current administration is planning to defund. Fuck those dudes.) Gift article. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/s...
- Thank you to my congressperson, rephuffman.bsky.social, for signing on to this.
- Almost in a class by itself. Only other nonprofit newsroom disaster I can think of at this scale would be the Bay Citizen.
- Aka "competitive authoritarianism" - the appearance of democracy process, the reality of authoritarian rule.
- Elephants are cool. www.sfchronicle.com/california/a...
[Not loaded yet]- This is the letter from the feds (GSA, specifically) that preceded Harvard.edu's decision to reject. Read the letter and you'll see why. Appalling. www.harvard.edu/research-fun...
- On the left, Harvard.edu's new home page. On the right, Berkeley.edu's home page. Who's telling the story better?
- And when it comes our way (and it will) hopefully the UC Regents and UC Berkeley leadership will do the same.
